


bending your straightest lines

by dboymin



Series: welcome to the hate club [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Pining, agony aunt renjun, figuring out, language appropriate for the age of its users, mark has a dog and donghyuck has a mark, mentions of homophobia (nothing explicit though!), they're in the 3rd year of middle school
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-18
Packaged: 2018-10-20 08:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10658790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dboymin/pseuds/dboymin
Summary: if it wasn't an apocalypse but donghyuck was getting love advice from renjun then something must have gone really wrong, right





	bending your straightest lines

**Author's Note:**

> probably some mistakes on the way but for now lets enjoy some soft markhyuck right  
> have a nice day!  
> ps: this formating is killing me;;;; who invented this goddamn website;;; look if i messed up im sorry blame ao3;;

Donghyuck was waiting for the class to empty. His heart was pounding as if it was a caged animal. He didn’t want to do that. But he had to. _You’re going to thank yourself later._ Or curse yourself later. Oh god, he was so stressed, it was such a foreign feeling compared to his usual laid-back personality.

If it came to the point he had to take an advice from Huang Renjun, it had to be bad. It wasn’t like they hated each other, they even used to be low-level friends in the first year and a half of middle school, but it all was ruined the day his past friend declared himself the first gay guy in their year. And it wasn’t like Donghyuck was homophobic, but that day he was so surprised he might had said few pretty problematic words. Which led to Donghyuck having to keep up his reputation because, hell, he didn’t mind it. And Renjun was a shitty friend.

Who now had a habit to stay in class between school breaks like the lesser part of the class which did not include Donghyuck. Only the most boring people stayed in during breaks, the cooler population wandered around school socialising with others. Renjun even stayed in during the lunch breaks texting whoever he was usually texting. That was why it was relatively easily to talk to him without being suspected by Donghyuck’s friends of conspiring with the enemy - nobody was there to see them.

After the class had been cleared off, Donghyuck, sporting sweat thanks to the Stress, breathed in and out and walked up to Renjun. He stopped in from of his desk, making it impossible for the Chinese not to notice him. Renjun slowly raised his head and looked straight (pun intended) into his eyes. His face expression wasn’t the friendliest.

“What?” he threw the word at Donghyuck who had already hated, hated, hated the whole idea.

The Korean cleaned his throat. “We kinda need to talk.”

Renjun raised his eyebrows a little. “Why? No friends to talk to?” and then smirked. “Ah, I know why. Sorry, I don’t give free math lessons to ugly homophobes.”

Donghyuck laughed dryly. “You give them to pretty homophobes then? No, I,” here he hesitated, at this rate he was only going to get embarassed. And still, there was a risk that someone could hear their conversation, “...give me your number.”

Renjun just stared at him blankly. “What do you need my number for.”

With amusement somewhere deep in his mind, Donghyuck noticed that the other was completely clueless about his intentions. It would be fun to catch him off-guard if it was any other occasion that his own mental breakdown.

“I need to ask you something. And I’m not sure we can talk about it out loud…”

His face was still blank. It was a strange situation for him probably, to have a person who always had something bad to say about him to almost beg for help. Donghyuck could just guess what possible explanations were going through his ex-friend’s mind. “You can say it out loud, there’s no one here. I thought you were an open book?” he asked provocatively.

And he was right. Donghyuck was an open book, but sometimes a blow of wind can shut the largest open books. Alright, he couldn’t waste time, the break wouldn’t last forever.

He looked away from Renjun, although the question was aimed at the boy, “Have you ever been in love?”

\----

“...so then I grabbed the bow and made the realest 360 degrees turn while still in the air, I shot all of them bastards. Pretty cool, huh?”

“How do you get dreams like that every night?”

Donghyuck made a satisfied and a tad smug expression. “Those dreams are the least special thing about me, hyung.”

All he got in response was a high-pitched very specific laughter, a fucking trademark one, a characteristic Donghyuck could recognize in the darkness headphones on.

Mark then admitted, “My dreams are so boring. Most of the time they don’t make sense or even form a proper story, I’m jealous.”

Upon hearing that, Donghyuck fluttered his eyelashes. “Ah, what can we do that I’m so awesome... Wanna eat something?”

He got up off the floor cheerfully and reached out his hand so that his old-ass friend could stand up as well. Mark surely noticed the gesture, it wasn’t usual for Donghyuck to be nice. Unless he was staging it. Which certainly was the case.

Mark used his help anyway and a minute later they were sitting in Donghyuck’s kitchen sipping orange juice.

“Is it natural? Or made in the land of supermarkets?” Mark pointed at the glass genuinely curious, because the juice tasted a little too fresh for it to be a supermarket product.

“I don’t know, “ Donghyuck shrugged. “I didn’t even see the package for it if there was one in the first place.”

Mark stopped drinking and frowned. “Wait, so how did you pour it in?”

“Oh, I didn’t, it has already been in the glasses, I guess someone had to pour it beforehand.”

The older blinked. “Do you think... someone had drunk it before?”

Donghyuck had to think about it for a moment. Would it be disgusting to tell Mark that _yes_ , it was possible? But really, he didn’t think about the origin of the juice when he reached for the glasses… Yikes.

He hesitated. Should he scare Mark a little? “Maybe my brother?”

Mark’s eyes went wide and his voice weaker, “Your b-brother?”

“Don’t worry, you shouldn’t get pregnant. And if you did then I’m sorry for ugly babies,” Donghyuck couldn’t hold his laughter at the mere thought. It was so easy to laugh when Mark was around because both of them weren’t the best at taking things seriously. Any attempts at deep talks had always finished with an awful karaoke session or memes. Or making fun of Donghyuck’s older brother Taeyong, the latter being his personal favorite.

Mark laughed briefly and went back to sipping the juice. Donghyuck forgot about doing the same thing and just observed his best friend. Mark’s eyelashes were long.

That was the first time his instincts told him something was wrong. But he quickly brushed them off and reached for the cookies lying in a bowl in the centre of the table. He hummed at his hyung to have some as well, “Strawberry white chocolate. Your favorite.”

\----

Renjun blinked, surprisement showing in every component of his face. “What kind of a question is this? Are you filming me right now?”

Donghyuck looked at him with resignation. “I just don’t know a better person for this topic than you, so consider yourself chosen. Now give me your number so I can unwind,” he took out his phone from his front pocket and let it slide through Renjun’s desk.

The Chinese looked at the device with hesitation. Eventually, he unlocked the screen and typed in his number. “Here. You better be serious about your damn problems or else-”

The other nodded, not listening to Renjun anymore. He went back to his back row seat and tapped the _messages_ icon. After choosing the right number, his hand wandered above the letter buttons, not sure which one to tap.

He looked at Renjun, who was impatiently awaiting his first text. Fuck it, Donghyuck, do your thing, he told himself and sent the first message:

_dh: ok i’m writing_

_rj: you’re not asking me bc you’re writing an article to homophobic monthly right?_

_dh: no, i’m... curious? about my observations_

_rj: tell me about those feelings then_

_dh: they’re not feelings they’re just observations_

_rj: tell me, i promise i won’t make fun of you i see that you’re being serious unless you’re not then you’re dead_

_dh: i’m for real so alright_

Donghyuck started typing and then stopped, confused about how exactly he should form his thoughts. He didn’t believe himself enough to assume that he’d have the guts to ask for advice from Renjun so he didn’t plan what he was going to tell him.

_dh: there’s this person, we’re friends, maybe even best but sometimes i have this weird feeling under my heart when i’m around him i mean that person and idk it’s weird it’s like there’s something incomplete there_

Fuck, Donghyuck’s keyboard had slipped, there wasn’t supposed to be a pronoun there, Donghyuck was so so de-

_rj: can i interrupt? did you ever get a crush?_

What was that? Donghyuck looked at Renjun, who wasn’t looking at him that time. Weird. Why wasn’t he touching the pronoun topic? Why did he so simply assume Donghyuck could have weird feelings about a _boy_? What happened to his holy preserved reputation?

Finally, after getting no answer from his unofficial enemy for a minute, Renjun turned around and waved at the Korean. “I’m waiting, you shitass. Want that advice or not?”

__“Fuck you Renjun, let me focus,” he directed his attention back to the phone screen and could hear the other whining about something under his breath._ _

__How could Donghyuck focus when there were so many thoughts and thoughts and thoughts and_ _

__\-----  
Mark had a golden retriever. She had a very retriever-like personality and of course loved to sleep on her owners’ beds and because it would be sad to sleep alone, the day Donghyuck was visiting his best friend after school, the dog chose his room, his bed, as her resting base. Therefore, as Mark liked animals very much, he was laying just next to his golden while his best friend was sitting comfortably on the desk chair._ _

__They were talking about some useless school stuff as usual like staff changes and their mutual friends. Donghyuck went to a school placed somewhere in the upper middle range of Seoul’s middle school ranking, while Mark frequented an art school high in their own ranking, but somehow they ended up having mutual friends._ _

__But really, Donghyuck was talking so much about Jaemin and Jeno that Mark could consider them his own friends even though they had met each other only like twice._ _

__Somehow the younger teleported himself from the chair to the edge of Mark’s bed and none of them noticed, maybe the dog did. Speaking of her, she was a very selfish creature who spread herself on the 66% of the bed, leaving Mark the remaining part which wasn’t a lot considering he didn’t happen to be 140cm high anymore._ _

__Before Donghyuck could even tell the other that he was about to fall, the Canadian did probably notice it well from the floor he landed on. Donghyuck would laugh, but the dog stepped on his leg while galloping off the bed and all there was left was a mute ‘oouummff’ coming from the boy’s mouth. And before Mark could climb up the piece of furniture, Donghyuck was already lying where his attacker was a few seconds ago. He got quickly pushed to the side by Mark’s whole body now that he had already collected himself and wanted to lay there, but Donghyuck didn’t give up and clinged to the other’s hoodie so that he wouldn’t be the one to fall this time._ _

__In that moment they found themselves way too close to each other and Donghyuck’s mind went blank because since when were Mark’s eyes so calming? He tried to make himself more comfortable and let go of the other’s hoodie to stabilize himself more. Mark also tried to move a little to the other side so that the two of them could fit in a space made for one. They weren’t speaking for a while and Donghyuck felt as if he had additionally teleported himself to a different universe._ _

__When was the last time he felt so calm and… in place?_ _

__There was a space between them in the end and Donghyuck felt like his limbs and chest ached a bit, as if as if as if as if the only thing needed was to press the other’s body against his and rest like that._ _

__He must had been really tired to have those weird thoughts so he decided to let go of himself internally, completely go mad and stare straight into Mark’s eyes for the next five minutes._ _

__Mark closed his eyes though and Donghyuck felt like vomiting because he couldn’t recognise himself in those thoughts he had for the last few minutes._ _

__He liked… girls not… handsome Canadian boys..._ _

__But then those feelings weren’t _liking_ someone, he was just _confused.__ _

__And the day after the bed thing his mind must had gone crazy, that was what Donghyuck had to decide after having a dream guest starring Mark Lee. That was the first time he didn’t tell him his dream, the first time he didn’t feel proud to share his dream with anyone really._ _

__\----_ _

__[6:32pm, Huang Renjun (School)]  
__

dh: i thought so but that’s different maybe this i s a crush. i’ll continue. sometimes like i want to touch him but not like in a bad way but just like put my hand on his shoulder you know nothing dangerous and sometimes when it’s dark you know that drunk feeling at night sometimes i’d just want to idk be around him i mean that person like it’s a friendship thing? but i never feel that way with my friends so idk what is wrong fuck i once had a dream where we were kissing 

__

__

rj: you had a dream where you were kissing another guy? i promised i wouldn’t comment but that’s impressive for someone as openly homophobic as you this is like double closet

dh: i’m not gay listen! i like girls it’s just that i have weird feelings

rj: you’re literally lying in front of yourself if you can’t be honest with yourself then how can you be honest with him lol, you might be bi what’s the problem

dh: i should just fucking wait for it to pass but will it

rj: if he reciprocated would you date him?

dh: hell no he can’t know

rj: is he also a blatant homophobe? or worse, a taken straight

dh: i don’t want to hear your gay inside jokes

rj: what dya wanna hear then

rj: the sole fact that were talking right now means that you want to do smth with that

dh: yeah

dh: i enjoyed kissing him in my dream

rj: very straight of you

dh: ah maybe i’m not that straight..

rj: i think you have a foundation to suspect that

dh: what should i do

rj: you’ll never get to kiss him if you don’t try~

dh: stop. i can’t ruin our friendship

rj: oh right i forgot about this part

dh: yeah it’s an important one

rj: do you want a shitty but real advice

dh: bring it on

rj: intoxicate him

dh: w h a t

rj: drink together and see what happens next

dh: renjun i dont think this is the best idea

rj: what like you’ve never drunk before?

dh: i think we have a cultural difference between us. you’re 15 and you have drunk?

rj: yes you haven’t? 

dh: we don’t even have alcohol my brother is like the weakest drinker ever

rj: so you're considering it

dh: no i’m not but i have a solution

rj: spill

dh: good friends forgive each other their mistakes

rj: that’s the theory

dh: i should just tell him

rj: and next? if he agrees to anything

dh: then i’ll worry about that

rj: i still can’t believe you are the one i’m having this conversation with, i was always betting more on your dear friend jeno

rj: anyway, do you want to be cute boyfriends with that one of yours?

dh: renjun

rj: do you

dh: yeah

rj: if he’s a real friend he won’t turn his back on you besides he’s from canada

dh: yeah

dh: WAIT

dh: HOW THE FUCK YOU KN OW HES FROM CANADA 

rj: he’s pretty you sure you want him

rj: next time don’t act coupley on instagram you shitfuck

\----

It was a matter of time for Renjun to jump to the first place on Donghyuck’s frequent contacts automatic list and to the second place (after Jeno the snapper) on his Snapchat best friend list. Which resulted in him sending a little to out of character snaps to his newfound friend because usually it was Jaemin or Mark on place number two. He was yet to mix up the contacts but the snap incidents made him more wary of his actions.

_______And the fact that Donghyuck and Renjun started talking with each other had spread pretty quickly much to both boys irritation because Chenle (second year) got screenshots of a shady convo from Renjun but in that moment Donghyuck had sent him a message and the notif appeared at the top of the screen. Chenle’s screens went to Park Jisung (first year) who showed them to Herin from his class who was friends with Hina from the boys’ class and then Hina sent the screen on their class groupchat with a suggestive caption and that was pretty much it._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Thankfully, Jeno was on the skiing trip with his parents and didn’t have wi-fi._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Sadly, Jaemin had seen the screenshot and was so surprised that he invaded Donghyuck’s house at 8pm on Sunday and made a monologue on how wrong it is for Donghyuck to be texting someone like Renjun. And here Donghyuck thought _he_ was the one obsessed about making their gay classmate look bad, Jaemin was raised well indeed._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Donghyuck had no idea what he should do with his Mark Case. He wouldn’t intoxicate him like this savage joke of a person Renjun had suggested, but then he wouldn’t just tell him the truth. Also, after the rumours had spread he didn’t feel confident enough to dare text the Chinese again, not only his screenshot skills were fucking low, but Donghyuck even suspected he did it all on purpose to downgrade his reputation._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______And two weeks had passed, he still didn’t know what to do and was more and more frustated. One day he was chilling with Mark and damn he looked so good with his hair colored dark red, but not like vivid dark red more like bland dark red, and ho ho ho was it Christmas again for Donghyuck? He did look good and so different compared to his natural style. Of course Mark got dissed by his best friend for the change but it was an affectionate diss. Being too nice meant being fake._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_______Jokes aside, he had to tell Renjun about that. He had to. Donghyuck was about to explode internally and exploding without anyone noticing wasn’t fun._ _ _ _ _ _ _

_dh: wake up shitass_  
_dh: he's so 10/10  
_dh: bitch where are you i'm dying__

____

________“Why are you texting me when I’m sitting like next to you?” Mark pointed out._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I’m not-” Donghyuck froze. With fear in his eyes he glanced at the place where Renjun’s name and phone number should be written. That wasn’t Renjun’s name and phone number._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He did that._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He fucking mixed up the frequent contacts list._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________HE FUCKING MIXED UP THE FREQUENT CONTACTS LIST._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“O-oh. That was you,” Donghyuck’s voice jumped a few octaves up. “I didn’t think you were the one I was texting.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark was staring at him weirdly, analizing what had just happened. He had very pretty eyes. Shut up Donghyuck._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Then he looked at the text he received. The younger boy could see the other’s mind plugging in some plugs and unplugging some other ones. Somebody was going to die._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark broke the short yet humid silence. “But you wrote ‘his hand’... Doesn’t it-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah, I know what I wrote there, ah, ignore it, really,” Donghyuck tried to laugh it off, but the result was pretty cringey. He was so not prepared for something like this._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark slid through the floor to sit closer to his friend, “Hey,” he began locking his eyes with Donghyuck, “why didn’t you tell me you like boys as well? I wouldn’t judge you, you know?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Wow, was that Mark feeling hurt right now? This is some next level fuckery considering the reason _why_ Donghyuck preferred not to say a word about his confusions. “I’m not sure. I didn’t want our friendship to be affected, I kinda like you.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark slightly rolled his eyes. “You know I wouldn’t treat you any differently if you came out. Our friendship wouldn’t be affected,” then he looked at his phone. “It’s just weird that is you considering how, uhm, what opinions you used to have, right?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Yeah, yeah,” Donghyuck didn’t know if he should be glad or not that Mark didn’t catch that ikindalikeyou slip of a tongue. Okay, he was glad._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________But was this how it was supposed to end? Maybe this was the moment he and Renjun were talking about maybe that was the moment he should tell Mark the truth._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Why wasn’t he asking about _who_ he was texting about? Didn’t he want to know?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“I,” Donghyuck managed to breathe out, “I would tell you. I would. But, truthfully…,” Mark wasn’t looking straight into his eyes, just at some undefined point on his face, but Donghyuck decided to continue, “truthfully I might like you a little too much than I should.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark eyes found their way back to Donghyuck’s ones. And then they went wide. “Me? You mean, wait a second,” he looked at the floor awkwardly and then back at Donghyuck, “you’re for real now?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________His best friend nodded slowly. “Y-yeah, for real. I guess. I’m sorry. That’s why I didn’t want to say anything, you know, I like our friendship as it is and shit like that would only destroy it I’m so dumb,” he continued on one breath and when he looked at Mark all he found was on his face was well nothing. He couldn’t read his emotions and he thought he was going to cry in any second because he might had liked Mark as a crush, but he loved him as a friend._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark leaned back unconsciously blinking few times, “I’m just surprised. I thought you would tell me about someone I didn’t know... It’s a little overwhelming now,” he looked mentally tired, as if his whole life had just flashed before his eyes. “Give me a sec.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________‘A sec’ lasted about a minute and after that Mark’s mum called them for dinner and they later acted as if nothing happened in his bedroom. To say Donghyuck was devastated would be an understatement._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________\---  
“Look at that man,” Renjun pointed at someone on the other side of the window. “Only a straight guy would wear pants like that.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Donghyuck leaned to the left to see that apparent fashion crime and definitely managed to disturb Renjun’s private space given he had one. “I own one of these though.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Renjun gasped. “Throw them out, nobody can know. Your past is a past now after your first straight boy heartbreak.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Thanks Renjun,” Donghyuck gave him a fake smile and pushed him almost off the chair. The Chinese cursed loudly and earned himself a glance from everybody else sitting in the class during the break. It was already set that the two of them are actually friends and nobody seemed to know how exactly this kind of fuckery happened. They were even sitting next to each other now, Jaemin’s eyes were permanently wide open after Donghyuck took his stuff from the seat behind him and moved to the second row to sit with Renjun. Jeno was coming back the next day so Donghyuck didn’t know why he was dramatizing so much._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“It’s predictable that your friendship is changing now, after all it’s unequal if one person’s emotions speak and another one’s shout.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Donghyuck snorted. “You text philosophical shit like that to your boyfriend as well?” he pointed at Renjun’s phone with his chin._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“My boyfriend?” Renjun looked away, a little embarassed? “Don’t have one though.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Donghyuck blinked. “Who have you been texting all this time then?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“...My friends from China?” Renjun cleaned his throat. “I’ve never had a boyfriend.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“HUH?” Donghyuck exclaimed. “All this time I thought of you as a dating expert and now you’re telling me _I_ have more experience than you?!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Renjun chuckled. “Hey, at least it proves that I’m good both at people and pretending. Two things you desperately suck at-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Unbelievable. Unbelievable. If your advice was better I wouldn’t be sitting here defeated and miserable! You fucking imposter!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Renjun patted his head. “I know you’re not mad at me though. Ha.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________\---_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Exactly twenty-three hours later Donghyuck was about to run out of his bus to make it to school at time when he bumped into someone his height with a very familiar shape. Mark._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Oh sorry!” Donghyuck shouted and moved to the left to get out of the vehicle as quickly as possible. “And bye!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The air smelled like freedom for him. They talked like yesterday, so it wasn’t like they were avoiding each other! They even met up at Donghyuck’s and did the stuff they were usually doing, so everything was chill between them._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He stopped marching to catch his breath and in that moment could hear someone walking behind him who then passed by him and ended up standing in front of the boy blocking the sun. Donghyuck looked up. Damn, Mark again. Predictable, wasn’t he._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“Hyung? This is not your stop though? Ditching school, aren’t we, huh?” he teased the older._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark smiled for a fraction of a second. “Nooo, I just felt like following you of course.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Donghyuck tilted his head, “Oh you did? Nice, but no need, my school’s right here, “ he pointed to the street on their right._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark hanged his eyes for a short while there and then lively patted him on his shoulder lightly smiling this time genuinely, “That’s why we’re not going to your school, Hyuckie.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________The other observed the changes in his face expression. Mark wanted to tell him something. Donghyuck pretended considering the importance of a Geography lesson and then nodded at his hyung showing agreement._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________They missed the turn to his school and went along the main road, chatting for a bit about current events even though none of the two was really following the conversation. Then Mark cleared his throat, “I wasn’t sincere with you,” there was no reaction from his friend so he continued, “I told you once that I started spending time with you because you were funny, but that wasn’t true.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Now, that caught Donghyuck off-guard. Mark was the first person who noticed his then crawling sense of humour and the one who pushed him to be more and more savage and shameless. Hey._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Mark wasn’t finished, “I started spending time with you, because I thought you were cute? I mean it was few years ago, you used to be very cute back then-”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Donghyuck raised his eyebrows at that. He was _still_ cute, cute _up to this day_. A fucking liar._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________“So later I found out just how matching we were, you know. But my intentions weren’t clear, I guess, I mean then I found out just how… heteronormative you were so I assumed that nothing else than friendship could be formed with you anyway so I gladly went with it. Although, we’re so close that it never really mattered… Until you told me you like me, oh god, it was so sudden, I was so used to the fact that you’d never like a boy in any life that I had to think about all of it for a while. It was so unexpected! I’m sorry,” at that moment he looked at the ground with embarrassment written on his face and quietly admitted, “I’ve never thought of you as _just_ a friend.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Donghyuck face was probably white at that moment. _He couldn’t believe his ears. W h a t w e r e t h e o d d s._ He said nothing though, he had no idea what to say, he was almost okay with the thought that nobody would ever love him and that he would have to spend all of his life listening to indie pop artists with wailing voices singing about tragedies._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________So Mark took the lead, because he had more time to understand all of this and collect himself from the metaphorical ground. “So, should we try? To, I don’t know, level up?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Even though he felt as if he urgently needed water, Donghyuck managed to mumble a quiet ‘yes’. But apparently Mark didn’t hear him so Donghyuck, led by weird emotions, said, or quietly shouted, “yeS!” And then he noticed just how eager he sounded and, fuck, he didn’t want to lose his cool so he repeated in a diplomatic tone, “Yes, I think we should.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________And in the 0.5s Mark was laughing. His best friend didn’t know if it was becuase of his triple yes or the whole situation, but he quickly joined him and there they were, laughing like idiots during school hours on one of the main streets of the capital. Donghyuck loved it and in a spur of a moment took Mark’s hand in his and, hell, he was so happy. It was all so weird._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________\---  
“Where is that bitch,” Renjun hissed out, having his phone sticked to his ear. They had a goddamn presentation in one hour and Renjun was so not presenting it by himself. Did he had to ditch school that one day out of all possible?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Later that break, Jaemin came up to him and asked about their friend’s absence. Of course he didn’t believe that he had no information whatsoever and was still following Renjun trying to persuade him to tell them the truth. Renjun was _just_ about to tell him to fuck off when Chenle (second year) and Park Jisung (first year) both burst into their classroom and shouted something in unision._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________‘What?’ Jaemin asked them to repeat._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Chenle looked at Jisung with disappointment, apparently it was his news this time as well, “On my way to school I saw Lee Donghyuck on a date with a guy in a SOPA uniform!!! They were _holding hands_ , I swear!”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Renjun turned around so quickly he swore his neck broke and Jaemin just brushed off the news, “Child, he might be hanging out with Renjun the gay, but that doesn’t mean anything…,” he shook his head at how naive Chenle was. He had probably mixed up him with someone else._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Renjun on the other hand waved at their younger friend, “He had dark red hair?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________His eyes widened. “ _Yes!”__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________The rest of the class looked at Renjun who smirked at the confirmation. That little homophobe did that, he was proud of him._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________The next thing that happened was the school ring ringing and Donghyuck rushing into their classroom. He stopped at the entrance to take a breath and quickly walked up to his seat, “Shit, Renjun, I almost forgot about our presentation, so sor-” he looked around to find out why the hell was it so quiet in the room. He blinked, because somehow everyone was looking at him with either curiosity or plain surprise. “What? Sorry for being late? You guys missed me so much this past hour?”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________“Next time,” Renjun comfortably sat on the chair next to him and patted him on the back, “don’t go around with your new boyfriend if you don’t wanna get caught.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_________His face turned white the second time that day._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
